CD-Charts Position 151
Average Rating:

Tannhauser (Slipcase)

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
by: Wagner, Sotin, Dernesch, Kollo, Solti

Release Date February 11, 2003
I was very excited to get this stereo Tannhauser, since the ones I owned were the Caissily\Levine and Cluytens(56). I decided to go with this after listening to Soltis Meistersinger(2nd version) and couldnt get over the clarity, hoping for similar revelations. Unfortunetly, this was not the case. It started out well enough with an exceptional Venus sung by Christa Ludwig-definetly the best interpretation I have ever heard but from the outset of Rene Kollo-the famous first song-I began having misgivings about his interp. I found myself feeling this was pretty uninspired throughout, with a brief moment of enjoyment returning in the third act. Overall, this was not even close to the Cluytens version-which is still my favourite despite less than ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 152
Average Rating:

Die Walkure (Dig)

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
by: Wagner, Vickers, Ward, London, Lso, Leinsdorf

Release Date August 20, 2002
I have known and loved this version of Wagner's masterpiece for thirty years, first on LP, then on CD - and I remain truly mystified by the received opinion that it is inferior to the later Solti set - which is, in fact, the weakest of that tetralogy; I would favour Karajan's thoughtful, refined, beautifully sung version over that. Both the latter and this Leinsdorf set feature Vickers as Siegmund. He is in excellent voice in both but even fresher and certainly less mannered here. As for the supposed superiority of Nilsson's later assumptions of Bruennhilde - like other reviewers of this set, I just don't hear it; here, she sound superlative and not just a chromium plated virago, either - there are moments of supreme tenderness, especially in the Todesverkuendigung. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 153
Average Rating:

Mozart: Così fan tutte

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
from: EMI Classics

Release Date August 15, 2000
I must only shortly state that this must be the best recording ever made of this opera. It is the best, it is a musical wonder.

CD-Charts Position 154
Average Rating:

Johann Strauss: Die Fledermaus

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
starring: Eberhard Wächter, Erich Kunz, Renate Holm, Gundula Janowitz, Wolfgang Windgassen
directed by: Otto Schenk

Release Date January 08, 2008
This is a good Fledermaus but is 35 years old! Come on, fellows, you ought to be able to come up with something newer (and perhaps better) than that. True, it does have Surround Sound, but the characters were not too convincing. The orchestra and ballet are excellent as were the settings. Not a bad choice but I will continue to look for another production

CD-Charts Position 155
Average Rating:

Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
from: EMI Classics

Release Date August 15, 2000
George Lucas went back into Star Wars to "re-do" certain things he wasn't happy about and ruined it. Steven Spielberg did the same, if not worse, to E.T. And Wilhelm Richard Wagner did that to his Dutchman.

That is why I adore this recording. It wasn't until I heard this Dutchman that I finally understood what it was all about. This is the original Dresden version and the Weber-like ending is more powerful than the Tristan-esque sunrise Wagner tacked on later. I much prefer a blazing red finale, which is in keeping with Vanderdecken's final judgment (dragging Senta up with him) than the cotton candy of the re-write.

The singers are all wonderful, despite what critics (there will always be those) say. I'll take drama over a pretty voice anyday because that ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 156
Average Rating:

Donizetti - Lucia di Lammermoor / Sutherland · Pavarotti · Milnes · Ghiaurov · ROH Covent Garden · Bonynge

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
by: Richard Bonynge, Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Covent Garden Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Sherrill Milnes, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Ryland Davies, Pier Francesco Poli, composer: Gaetano Donizetti, conductor: Richard Bonynge

Release Date August 12, 1985
What Pavarotti does here is totally amazing. For me, the highest point of the opera is "Tombe degli avi miei" and "Fra poco a me ricovero". It is a riveting scene, when Edgardo sings next to the tomb of his ancestors his love and inevitable sacrifice to Lucia, who, unknown to him, was already dead. Sutherland is a joy to hear too. Pavarotti and Sutherland made various records together for Decca in the 70s and this one is by far the best of the lot.

CD-Charts Position 157
Average Rating:

Brahms: Lieder [Box Set]

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
from: Brilliant Classics

Release Date February 28, 2006
Brahms's total output of solo songs does not approach Schubert's 606 and I have never known the exact figure, but here are 164 of them to be going on with, and I think that constitutes a very high percentage.

The baritone voice is the timbre I generally find best suited to Brahms, and on these six discs we hear a lyric baritone among lyric baritones. This is one of the greatest voices of the 20th century, and I expect indeed of any century. To this God-given endowment Fischer-Dieskau brings artistry and professionalism of the highest and strictest order. You will find total technical perfection applied to the first song here: you will find loving understanding lavished on the 164th; and you will find both in equal measure in each and every one. Lyricism is the first and foremost requirement. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 158
Average Rating:

Berlioz: Les Troyens

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
by: Ben Heppner, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Petra Lang

Release Date January 30, 2002
I enjoyed this version more than Davis' old version. Casandre is stunning in her opening aria and the sound is wonderful. Hepner is slightly an odd choice for the role but all others are great(and i do love hepner)

CD-Charts Position 159
Average Rating:

The Very Best of Lucia Popp

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
from: EMI Classics

Release Date September 02, 2003
Lucia Popp came from my home country of Slovakia. In 1963, she took her chance and, as the amazingly talented 24-year-old ingenue, accepted the offer to sing in Vienna. She crossed the iron curtain. This for a long time made her and undesirable element in the Communist Czechoslovakia. Only after the collapse of Soviet block in 1989 she gained the due recognition also in her homeland. Tragically, just four years later she died of cancer, aged only 54...
What she left is the great body of work. She specialized on German and Austrian composers, which is evident also from this great compilation. However, anything she touched, she turned into gold.
On this double CD you can find many of her glorious recordings. Especially high recommended are all Mozart's (among them the famous Queen aria from Magic Flute) and ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 160
Average Rating:

Bartók: Duke Bluebeard's Castle / Kertész, Ludwig, Berry

CD-Charts > Music > Operettas
from: Decca

Release Date September 14, 1999
Like so many devotees of this spectacular recording, I am no fan of Bartok in general, but this piece transcends any general opinion I might have of his idiom; it is one of the most complete and involving performances in the whole operatic catalogue. Unlike some operas, whereby you simply resign yourself to sitting back and enjoying the music in spite of the risible plot or lumbering libretto ("Ernani" and "Le Villi" come to mind), or whereby the words seems to take precedence over the music (some of Hofmannsthal's more abstruse efforts for Strauss?), this opera embodies the perfect fusion between words and music, between drama and beauty of form, much as Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande" - a clear influence on Bartok - does. No problem here with "prima la musica, dopo le parole" - or vice versa!

First, as ... Read More: